ISIL claims beheading Japanese journalist

February 1, 2015

Amman (Jordan), Feb 1: The ISIL claims to have beheaded Japanese freelance journalist Kenji Goto held captive by the Takfiri group.

ISIL claims

The group released a video on Saturday purportedly showing Goto's decapitation.

The footage shows Goto kneeling, dressed in an orange outfit. A masked man standing beside him with a knife blames the Japanese government for his "slaughter."

It ends with a still photo of the body with the head resting on the back.

The executioner speaks directly to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, saying, "Because of your reckless decision to take part in an unwinnable war, this knife will not only slaughter Kenji, but will also carry on and cause carnage wherever your people are found. So let the nightmare for Japan begin."

Grief beyond words

Goto's mother Junko Ishido said, "I can't find the words to describe how I feel about my son's very sad death." "It's deplorable, but Kenji is gone," she said.

Goto's brother Junichi Goto said he had been holding out hope, "But that's not possible anymore."

Japan outraged

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe voiced outrage over the apparent execution, saying, "I am extremely angry about these heinous and despicable terrorist acts. We will never forgive terrorists."

He added that he was "at a loss for words about the pain that (Goto's) family must feel." "We will cooperate with the international community to make them atone for their crimes."

Reactions

A spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the "barbaric murder," and said the death "underscores the violence that so many have been subjected to in Iraq and Syria."

US President Barack Obama said in a statement, "The United States condemns the heinous murder of Japanese citizen and journalist Kenji Goto by the terrorist group ISIL."

"Through his reporting, Mr. Goto courageously sought to convey the plight of the Syrian people to the outside world," he noted.

"Our thoughts are with Mr. Goto's family and loved ones, and we stand today in solidarity with Prime Minister Abe and the Japanese people in denouncing this barbaric act."

White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said earlier that the United States was working to confirm the video's authenticity.

Moreover, British Prime Minister David Cameron said, "I utterly condemn what appears to be the despicable and appalling murder of Kenji Goto," "It is a further reminder that ISIL is the embodiment of evil, with no regard for human life."

French President Francois Hollande also said he "resolutely condemned the brutal murder of Japanese citizen Kenji Goto by Daesh," using an alternative acronym for the group.

Previous footage

In a recent video posted online, ISIL militants showed the Japanese captive saying he would be killed unless Jordan released a female militant Sajida al-Rishawi, who is thought to be behind an attack on a hotel in Jordan in 2005.

It showed Goto holding the photo of a dead body allegedly belonging to Haruna Yukawa, another Japanese hostage that had been captured by the ISIL Takfiri terrorists.

Goto said in the online footage that if al-Rishawi was not ready for exchange for his life at the Turkish border by Thursday sunset, 29th of January, Mosul time, the pilot Muath al-Kassasbeh would be killed immediately.

However, the beheading footage of Goto included no mention of the Jordanian hostage.

The ISIL extremists have been engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control in Iraq and Syria. They have terrorized and killed people of all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians.

The 47-year-old journalist and filmmaker went to Syria in October reportedly to try to secure Yukawa's release. Yukawa was apparently beheaded after a 72-hour deadline for a USD 200-million ransom passed without payment.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 17,2020

Beijing, Jun 17: Beijing's airports cancelled more than 1,200 flights and schools in the Chinese capital were closed again on Wednesday as authorities rushed to contain a new coronavirus outbreak linked to a wholesale food market.

The city reported 31 new cases on Wednesday while officials urged residents not to leave Beijing, with fears growing about a second wave of infections in China, which had largely brought its outbreak under control.

Tens of thousands of people linked to the new Beijing virus cluster -- believed to have started in the sprawling Xinfadi wholesale food market -- are being tested, with almost 30 residential compounds in the city now under lockdown.

At least 1,255 scheduled flights were cancelled Wednesday morning, state-run People's Daily reported, nearly 70 percent of all trips to and from Beijing's main airports.

The outbreak had already forced authorities to announce a travel ban for residents of "medium- or high-risk" areas of the city, while requiring other residents to take nucleic acid tests in order to leave Beijing.

Meanwhile, several provinces were quarantining travellers from Beijing, where all schools -- which had mostly reopened -- have been ordered to close again and return to online classes.

"The epidemic situation in the capital is extremely severe," Beijing city spokesman Xu Hejian warned Tuesday.

Mass testing under way

Officials have closed 11 markets and disinfected thousands of food and beverage businesses in Beijing after the outbreak was detected.

The city has now reported 137 infections over the last six days, with six new asymptomatic cases and three suspected cases on Wednesday, according to the municipal health commission.

An additional two domestic cases, one in neighbouring Hebei province and another in Zhejiang, were reported by national authorities on Wednesday, while there were 11 imported cases.

Authorities have so far banned group sports, ordered people to wear masks in crowded enclosed spaces, and suspended inter-provincial group tours in response to the outbreak.

Officials said that since May 30, more than 200,000 people had visited Xinfadi market, which supplies more than 70 percent of Beijing's fruit and vegetables.

More than 8,000 workers there were tested and quarantined.

Until the new outbreak, most of China's recent cases were nationals returning from abroad as COVID-19 spread globally, and the government had all but declared victory against the disease.

China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that the virus type found in the Beijing outbreak was a "major epidemic strain" in Europe.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 19,2020

Washington, May 19: As the scientists across the world are struggling to develop a vaccine for combating coronavirus, US drugmaker Moderna announced on Monday (local time) that the phase I trial of its Covid-19 vaccine has shown positive early results.

The company is hopeful that it's vaccine could be available to the public as early as January next year. Several firms across the world are in the race to develop a vaccine for the deadly virus which has claimed over 3 lakh lives worldwide.

CNN citing Dr. Tal Zaks, Moderna's chief medical officer reported that "if future studies go well, the company's vaccine could be available to the public as early as January".

"This is absolutely good news and news that we think many have been waiting for for quite some time," Zaks was quoted as saying.

Moderna, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts announced that the vaccine developed neutralising antibodies to the virus at levels reaching or exceeding the levels seen in people who have naturally recovered from Covid-19, reported CNN.

These will be followed by phase 2 trials and phase 3 trials, which Moderna plans to start in July.

President Donald Trump had on Friday said that that the United States will be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, under 'Operation Warp Speed', by the end of this year.

"I have very recently seen early data from a clinical trial with a coronavirus vaccine and this data made me feel even more confident that we'll be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020 and we will do the best we can," Trump had said at a press conference at the White House on Friday.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 24,2020

Islamabad, Jun 24: A plane crash which killed 97 people in Pakistan last month was because of human error by the pilot and air traffic control, according to an initial report into the disaster released Wednesday.

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane came down among houses on May 22 after both engines failed as it approached Karachi airport, killing all but two people on board.

"The pilot as well as the controller didn't follow the standard rules," the country's aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said, announcing the findings in parliament.

He said the pilots had been discussing the coronavirus pandemic as they attempted to land the Airbus A320.

"The pilot and co-pilot were not focused and throughout the conversation was about coronavirus," Khan said.

The Pakistani investigation team, which included officials from the French government and the aviation industry, analysed data and voice recorders.

The minister said the plane was "100 percent fit for flying, there was no technical fault".

The county's deadliest aviation accident in eight years came days after domestic commercial flights resumed following a two-month coronavirus lockdown.

Many passengers were on their way to spend the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr with loved ones.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.